Cryptopia Couldn't Recover from January Hack, Enters Liquidation

It seems that the security breach that the Cryptopia cryptocurrency exchange suffered in January has caused irrepairable damage to the company. Cryptopia has now updated its website with a statement saying that the company has appointed two liquidators from Grant Thornton New Zealand professional services firm tasked with selling off the company’s remaining assets.

A report published by blockchain analysis firm Elementus shortly after the January hack estimated that $16 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from the New Zealand-based exchange.

Cryptopia partially resumed trading in March

In March, Cryptopia resumed trading for a limited number of trading pairs that the exchange “quantified as secure”. However, it seems that this move did not do enough to keep the company afloat. A section of the recent statement reads:

“Despite the efforts of management to reduce cost and return the business to profitability, it was decided the appointment of liquidators was, in the best interests of customers, staff and other stakeholders.”

In addition, all trading on the platform will be suspended for the duration of the liquidation process, which could take several months.

On Twitter, there have been plenty of complaints from Cryptopia’s users regarding their inability to withdraw funds from the exchange, even for cryptocurrencies that presumably weren't affected by the hack. Some have even called for collective legal action against Cryptopia.

While Cryptopia was never among the biggest players in the cryptocurrency exchange space, the exchange had secured a niche user base due to its extremely aggressive listing policy, even for so-called “micro cap” cryptocurrencies.